The Lawrence O'Brien Arts Centre in Happy Valley-Goose Bay was filled Wednesday with people taking part in the Sharing Our Cultures exposition. Students from Mealy Mountain Collegiate and École Boréale gave presentations and performances on their culture to a full house.

A St. John's-based tech company has launched what it says could revolutionize its core mission through artificial intelligence, and is getting a big financial boost from the oil companies behind the Hibernia and Hebron oil projects.

It's been 16 days since Tony Humby's trial was scheduled to start, and it's still unclear when the first witnesses will be called. The latest delay comes after a trio of applications filed by the Crown and defence.

A 44-year-old man was arrested and charged this week as part of an RCMP investigation into alleged sexual assault and drug trafficking in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

RCMP were notified on Monday evening by someone who alleged they had been drugged and sexually assaulted.

The following day, police obtained search warrants for a home on Saunders Street in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, and Darryl Dyson and a number of others were arrested.

Seized from the home were about 10 ounces of cocaine, brass knuckles, drug paraphernalia and more than $47,000 in cash.

RCMP say Dyson, who is being held in custody, is facing one count each of sexual assault, trafficking in cocaine, and possession of property obtained by crime over $5000.

The others arrested in Tuesday’s search have been released without charge. Police say further charges against Dyson and others are possible as the investigation continues.

A 31-year-old Stephenville man remains under investigation by police for a number of crimes committed on March 17.

Shortly after 5:00 a.m. on Monday, a pickup truck was stolen from a business on Utah Drive and, around the same time, during a break and enter at a nearby business, generators and a number of propane tanks were stolen.

While investigating the above matters, at approximately 7:00 a.m., police received a report of a stolen all-terrain vehicle (ATV) in Fox Island River. A 2022 Can AM Outlander was stolen from a residential property.  The property owner witnessed the theft and followed the suspect. Police attempted to stop the operator of the ATV, who fled the area on the stolen side by side.

Shortly before 11:00 a.m., Bay St. George RCMP recovered the stolen pickup truck in a snow bank near Crane Place in Stephenville.  The abandoned vehicle was left running and was seized as part of the investigation.

Shortly after this, the stolen Can Am Outlander ATV was observed by its owner, traveling along the T’railway. Police attended the area and, with the assistance of the owner, the ATV was located and recovered in Heatherton. The suspect was arrested nearby without further incident.

Following these crimes, police received a report of a second ATV that was stolen sometime overnight from a residential property in Point Au Mal, a 2019 black and blue 800 Can Am Commander XT. 

Police are continuing to look for the stolen property, including generators, currently of an unknown make or model, propane tanks and the 2019 Can Am Commander. The investigation is continuing with charges anticipated.

The 50th edition of the Newfoundland and Labrador Summer Games — set for 2026 — is heading to Corner Brook. The weeklong event will see more than 1,600 athletes between ages 11 and 18 visit the west coast city.

Two national pharmacy associations have released a new report targeting the complex issue of drug shortages and what can be done to address the issue.

It’s called A Path Forward: Collaborative Solutions to Strengthen Canada’s Drug Supply.

Angelique Berg, CEO of the Canadian Association for Pharmacy Distribution Management says drug shortages have been “increasing in volume and increasing in profile.”

What they have found, according to Berg, is that those involved in the supply chain are working in silos and didn’t realize that changes in one area would have an impact on others.

Photo via ParlVu

Berg says the biggest factor in drug shortages is economics.

She says there is a controlled market in Canada where they all seek to have the lowest prices, but with operational expenses continuing to rise, they are operating on “extremely thin margins.”

Another variable, Berg explains, is how lean the supply chain has become.

She says they have “squeezed all the fat out” to the point where they struggle to keep up if there is a disruption is supply.

Provincial Liberal leadership candidate John Abbott is calling on Memorial University to restore the Ode to Newfoundland at convocation ceremonies.

The controversial decision to drop the Ode two years ago ruffled a lot of feathers, even resulting in MHAs to raise their voices in the House of Assembly in an impromptu rendition of the anthem.

Abbott says despite having struck a committee to discuss convocation ceremonies, the university has yet to resolve the matter.

Abbott says the university should be asking how Labradorians and Indigenous communities should be recognized at convocation ceremonies instead of simply dropping the Ode altogether.

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services is in the process of implementing a new health information system.

Steve Greene, the Chief Information Officer with NLHS, says the new system will be called Core Care, and they are hoping to go live with it in the spring of 2026.

Over the course of 10 years, Greene says the new system will cost the health authority about $620-million, with a third of that being spent in the first two-and-a-half years of implementation.

Ultimately, he believes Core Care will result in a “better health care experience for everyone.”

He says for health care providers, it will mean fewer systems to log into and have more information available in real-time.

For patients, the system will build upon the “digital front door” that they have been rolling out over the last year.

He says it will give people greater access to their medical charts and improve things such as appointment scheduling.

Newfoundland and Labrador's auditor general says problems with the province's public medical care plan (MCP) linger on more than a decade after they were first highlighted by her office.

A 56-year-old Russian sailor has died after being lost from a cargo ship approximately 650 nautical miles northeast of St. John’s.

The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax received the call of a man overboard on Tuesday morning.

A Hercules and an Aurora aircraft out of Greenwood, Nova Scotia, were sent to the scene, while two commercial vessels and a P-8 fixed-wing aircraft out of the U.K. joined the search.

Weather conditions were favourable, but despite the effort, and a search that extended 20 hours beyond expected survivability, no sign of the missing man was detected and the search was called off.

The Auditor General is painting a poor picture of how the government handles its Medical Care and Dental Health plans in her latest report.

The ultimate conclusion of the report is that the Department of Health and Community Services is “unable to ensure that public health care funds are distributed appropriately to health care providers” through the programs, noting that many of the findings, particularly related to audit and recoveries, are the same as from the last report in 2014.It describes a system that is “old” and uses “outdated” technology. They say there is a lack of disaster recovery testing and business continuity planning, meaning that “MCP may be unprepared to recover from a catastrophic event, such as a cyber attack.”

They say that MCP has been slow to develop strong control processes, including the prevention of “double payments with Workplace NL,” and controls around manual adult reimbursement are “still not entirely sufficient to prevent potential fraud.”While the office of the AG has found that the design of the claims audit process is “generally adequate, ” audits often take a long time, which is why delays are hard to understand.

The report notes that in some cases audits were taking years to complete. Within the timeframe of their report 43 per cent of preliminary audits were completed on time, and only 11 per cent of comprehensive audits met the benchmark for completion.

Of those audits, they say that there is “very little success” in recovering money owed to the government. Across their three-year audit period, just over $146,000 was collected – just seven per cent of the $2.2 million owing.

AG Denise Hanrahan has made six recommendations to the province, all of which have been accepted.

Sheilagh’s Brush usually comes around this time of year, but the weather after St. Patrick’s Day was more of a harbinger of spring.

Areas on the island not only set temperature records, but the old standards were smashed.

David Neil, a meteorologist with the Gander Weather Office, says temperatures rose sharply, and then dropped quickly.

Gander’s old record of 8.9 was shattered by yesterday’s temperature of 15.9; Winterland got up to a little of 15 degrees, well above the existing record of 8 degrees.

St. John’s hit 15 degrees but that was just shy of a record.

A proposed change in DFO’s northern shrimp assessment model has shifted the species into the healthy zone – a move that the FFAW is applauding.

Union President Dwan Street says the change is long overdue and recognizes what she calls the ecological realities in the Newfoundland and Labrador ecosystem.

DFO has reduced its Precautionary Approach Framework from six fishing areas to two stock assessment regions -North and South – divided where NAFO regions 2H and 2J meet.While it’s yet to be approved, the modified Upper Stock Reference Point shows both populations in the healthy zone, with the number of mature female shrimp capable of reproducing increasing in the northern zone and stable in the southern zone.

Fisheries union president Dwan Street says the next step is to ensure access to the resource by the inshore fleet and that future allocations reflect the change in stock status.

NDP Leader Jim Dinn is slamming what he see’s as the provincial government’s lack of transparency in the recent sale of the old Airport Comfort Inn, now operating as transitional housing as Horizons 106.

A Brampton-based numbered company recently purchased three Comfort Inn hotels from the Clayton Hospitality Group according to AllNewfoundland and Labrador.

The provincial government is leasing the east-end property for $21 million over three years, but says the new owners intend to “maintain the facility for its existing purpose.”Dinn says the transaction leaves a lot of questions, including whether the facility will remain transitional housing for a certain number of years, or whether it could be reverted back into a hotel and force residents out.

He says the fact that the province has said nothing about the sale is “unacceptable,” and now the millions government is spending on leasing the property is flowing out of the province to Ontario.

The provincial government says it has ordered the company, which owns a transport truck which overturned on the Burin Peninsula Highway last month, to hire a registered site professional to remediate the area.

Nancy Barrington, lives nearby in Swift Current and says about 700 litres of diesel fuel spilled from the rig and is now seeping into the ocean.

The Department of Digital Government and Service NL says the polluter, Ollie Transportation, is aware of its responsibility to clean up the area.

Photo via Facebook

The cleanup had begun, but the government stopped it when it determined that the work was not progressing as it should have been. A ministerial order was issued last week requiring the polluter to take all steps necessary to control, eliminate, remedy or prevent an adverse effect on the environment.

When the site is remediated to the department’s satisfaction, a clearance document will be sent to the polluter.

Barrington is wondering who is going to clean up the diesel fuel – and when.

An absorbent material left behind near the waterfront – photo via Facebook

She says the cleanup came to an abrupt end prematurely. She has gone through every potential party involved and cannot find out why the fuel is not being cleaned up. She feels the environment department should clean up the site first, then ask questions later rather than wait for the insurance and legal process to play out.

“It’s really frustrating because it’s my property and it should be an environmental emergency. I want to know who’s going to clean this up and what’s going to happen,” she said.

Provincial fisheries minister Gerry Byrne says Newfoundland and Labrador still has a lot of friends in the United States despite an escalating trade war between the two nations.

Gerry Byrne is just back from the Boston Seafood Show, where Newfoundland and Labrador product has been featured prominently for decades.

While some have questioned the province’s involvement in trying to secure and expand its U.S. markets, Byrne says it’s important to continue to drive home the fact that current U.S. economic policy is hurting Americans as well as their trade partners.

Photo via Facebook

“We need to try to get this administration to understand that this is hurting Americans” says Byrne who met with Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and the Canada-New England Business Council while in Boston.

In the meantime, Byrne says the exposure Newfoundland and Labrador gets at the Boston Seafood Show is also catching the attention of buyers outside the United States.

Although avian flu was recently detected in a domestic poultry flock in CBS, the outbreak that ravaged wild seabird populations off the coast of Newfoundland a couple of years ago appears to have run its course.

Environment and Climate Change Canada says since January, only four wild bird carcasses were reported and tested in Newfoundland, and of those, only one tested positive for bird flu.

Environment says agencies are continuing to monitor the situation through surveillance and testing.

Sick or dead birds found in Newfoundland and Labrador should be reported to the provincial department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture.

On Tuesday around 4:00 p.m., an RNC officer observed a vehicle travelling at 155 km/h in the posted 100 km/h zone on the Outer Ring Road in St John’s.

The 29-year-old male driver was ticketed, had his licence suspended and the vehicle was impounded.

Some outdoor equipment could be the first to see price increases as the trade war continues between the U.S. and Canada.

Jonathan Earle of The Outfitters in downtown St. John’s, says from among his inventory, tariff tensions between Canada and the U.S. will likely impact water sports equipment the most.

Earle says that kayaks, canoes, paddles, and related gear are expected to bear the brunt of the tariffs, largely due to a shortage of Canadian goods available on the market.He, like others, is trying to adapt and find more Canadian supplies to fill the gaps.

“Those products (water gear) aren’t as developed probably in Canada, although we do have some good Canadian alternatives,” he said

“Those are the people that we’re working harder with and adjusting our American orders. As a business owner, I want to send the message to the U.S. that, hey, this is not cool, and we don’t appreciate what’s going on.”

On Thursday, the City of St. John’s will be hosting a World Poetry Day reading event at 7:00 p.m. in the Foran Greene Room in City Hall.

The event will be hosted by the City’s Poet Laureate Mark Callanan and feature poets Maggie Burton, Mary Dalton, George Murray, Michelle Porter, Craig Francis Power, and Aaron Tucker.

This is a public event and registration is not required.

A truck driver is calling for 24-hour road maintenance after his rig jackknifed on the Trans Canada Monday morning in extremely slippery conditions.

John Oliver says black ice on the Trans-Canada Highway Monday morning caused him to lose control of his rig just east of Springdale Junction.

Photo submitted

Oliver says there was no salt on the road at the time, and the plows weren’t operating.

He calls that a serious safety concern.

“My hat goes out to all us fellow truck drivers” Oliver told VOCM Open Line with Paddy Daly. “There’s been a lot of tragic things that have happened in the past year or so.” He claims he asked a Department of Highways supervisor on the scene why there wasn’t any salt on the road, and was told that they’re not allowed to go out until 8:00 o’clock in the morning. “I said, ‘that’s pathetic.'”

Photo submitted

On Tuesday evening, RNC officers responded to a disturbance at a business in the west end of St. John’s.

Officers located the male suspect upon arrival who had run from the store.

Officers pursued the suspect on foot and once they caught up, a physical altercation resulted before the male was taken into custody. The youth was taken to the Youth Remand Centre and was charged with assault, assault on a peace officer, resisting arrest, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and carrying a concealed weapon.

The youth also had eleven outstanding warrants.

Prime Minister Mark Carney says securing Canada is an “absolute strategic priority” for his government.

The PM announced a $6 billion Over the Horizon early warning radar system in partnership with Australia in a trip to Iqaluit yesterday. The project has been in the works for some time and could be up and running by 2029.

In terms of increased defence spending, Carney admits Canada has to do more to address security and sovereignty as the geopolitical map continues to shift.

“We will need to do more,” says Carney, “we will do it deliberately, we will do it in a way that gets effective value for money, that delivers true security.”

IN terms of “percentages relative to GDP or absolute dollar figures, I expect that more will have to be placed for defence spending,” Carney told reporters, indicating that it will come soon, but in a strategic way.

Roads are wet on the Avalon, Burin, and Northern Peninsulas this morning. Fog is reducing visibility on the Avalon. In central Newfoundland, roads are snow-covered. Visibility is poor from Gander to the Fogo Island Ferry Terminal. Travel is not recommended from South Brook to Springdale to Harry’s Harbour.

Across Labrador, roads are mostly bare and dry with a few icy and slushy with good visibility.

The MV Qajaq W is out of service today because no icebreaker assistance is available. All other ferries are on time.

At the Gander International Airport, Sinwing Flight 4354 is delayed. In Deer Lake, Air Canada Flight 7719 is cancelled. Flights are on time in St. John’s.

The CEO of Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services says it will be the provincial government that makes the final decision on procurement of goods and services from the United States.

In the House of Assembly earlier this month, acting Health Minister John Haggie announced that he had written the health authority to evaluate procurement contracts they have with companies in the U.S., given trade tensions with the country.

Pat Parfrey says a lot of work has been done regarding the impact of tariffs, but it wouldn’t be appropriate to discuss particular contracts that have been identified given that “directly relates to government policy.”

He says their role is to identify where they are procuring from and what their options are, but it is government that makes the final decision.

Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation Steve Crocker will be in Corner Brook today to make an announcement regarding the Newfoundland and Labrador Games.

The announcement will begin at 1:00 p.m. at the Corner Brook Civic Centre.

Crocker will be joined by Minister and MHA Gerry Byrne, Corner Brook Mayor Jim Parsons, and Darren Colbourne from Sport NL.

Newfoundland Power says some 7,000 customers should start receiving their March bills in the coming days.

The utility says it started getting contacted by customers last week indicating they had not yet received their bills for the previous month. Newfoundland Power says some 7,000 bills had been delivered to Canada Post on March 5, but subsequently learned that there was a delay processing the batch.

Those bills have since been released for delivery in the mail, and customers should start getting them in the next day or so. The company says it is taking steps to ensure that a similar delay doesn’t happen in future.

In February the national inflation rate increased 2.6 percent. That is up from a 1.9 percent increase back in January.

The end of the GST break contributed notable upward pressure to prices for eligible products according to Statistics Canada.

Slower price growth for gasoline prices moderated the all-items in inflation acceleration.

Prices for food purchased from restaurants declined at a slower pace year over year in February compared with January. Restaurant food prices contributed the most to the acceleration in the all-items CPI in February.

The City of St. John’s is axing its X accounts, saying the social media platform no longer reflects its core values of positivity and respect.

Council’s committee of the whole unanimously supported the move yesterday, following a growing trend, and paving the way for approval at next week’s regular public meeting.

It was part of a request by Deputy Mayor Sheilagh O’Leary for a review of all the city’s U.S. dealings, including X, the former Twitter, in light of escalating trade tensions.

Staff found that Facebook is by far the city’s most effective social media tool, while use of X continues to decline.

(File photo.)

O’Leary, who along with other councilors deactivated their X accounts long ago, says dumping it is a no-brainer, given the current discourse.

“It’s so important to get information out there but misinformation and abuse of information and harassment and these things are very problematic,” she said. “So I’m very happy to support this recommendation. I think it’s something that will help decrease some of the anxiety and misinformation that we’ve all been party to, including and especially the public.”

The city is considering the new Bluesky platform, which the province has joined while still holding about 20 accounts on X.

The city is encouraging residents to sign up for automatic email alerts and advisories regarding city issues and and events, as an alternative.

They also note the city’s What’s Happening link on Facebook continues to gain traction.

A teenager is facing several charges after a tussle with an RNC officer following an incident at a business in the west end last night.

Police rushed to the business just before 10:30 p.m. only to find the young person sprinting away from the shop.

Officers chased the teen on foot and once they caught up with him, a physical altercation ensued.

He was eventually taken into custody and charged with assault, assaulting a peace officer, resisting arrest, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and carrying a concealed weapon.

The teen, who already had eleven outstanding warrants, was taken to the Youth Remand Centre.

After CBC reported on crumbling infrastructure and capacity issues at the Newfoundland and Labrador Youth Centre in Whitbourne, the province's child and youth advocate has launched an investigation.

Newfoundland and Labrador's capital city is closing its X account — and just not because of the platform's controversial owner.

It’s a conversation Juan Roberts tries to avoid, but because more than half of his seafood is shipped to the United States, it’s hard not to avoid tariff talk. Roberts spoke with CBC’s Leila Beaudoin in Boston about exploring other markets.

President Trump and President Putin of Russia discussed a potential end to the war in Ukraine in a 90-minute phone call, agreeing to immediate peace talks in the Middle East and discussing cease-fire agreements to lead to permanent peace. They emphasized the need for a lasting resolution with a focus on energy and infrastructure. (UPI)

Chief Justice John Roberts rejected calls for impeaching judges after President Trump demanded removal of a judge for ruling against his deportation plans. This clash highlights tensions over the judiciary's role amid legal challenges, with Roberts emphasizing impeachment is not appropriate, urging for normal appellate review. (AP)

A small plane crashed into the Caribbean Sea after taking off from Roatan, Honduras, killing at least 12 people including popular musician Aurelio Martinez. Five were rescued. Survivors were taken to a nearby hospital, and the rescue efforts were hindered by difficult terrain and zero visibility for divers. (CBS News)

A member of a South African research team in Antarctica was put under psychological evaluation for assaulting and harassing colleagues. The team, isolated at the SANAE IV base, faced challenges living in close quarters through the harsh Antarctic winter. Incidents of stress and misconduct are common in similar settings. (ABC News)

Google has acquired the Wiz cloud security platform in a $32 billion all-cash deal, pending regulatory approval. Wiz and Google Cloud emphasized the need for easier and more accessible cloud security, and both reassured that Wiz's accessibility to other major cloud platforms will not be hindered. (UPI)

The provincial health health authority says it’s on track to release a new province-wide health information system in a year.

But NL Health Services is still working out whether it can stop buying American products in response to the Canada-U.S. trade war.

NTV’s Ben Cleary reports.

The lawyer for a man charged with murder expressed strong displeasures in court Tuesday because the lead investigator, who was supposed to testify in a bail hearing, was not there. NTV’s Rosie Mullaley reports.

It was five years ago today that the province declared a public health emergency to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. It would trigger a series of policies that transformed lives for the next two years.

The province confirmed last week the transitional housing facility at 106 Airport Road is under new ownership. The NDP is criticizing the lack of transparency around the sale. NTV’s Bailey Howard reports.

It was more than a week ago that retired CBC journalist Anthony Germain confirmed he’s seeking the federal Liberal nomination in Terra Nova-The Peninsulas. He says he was motivated to get into politics because of the ongoing trade war between Canada and the United States.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s health authority says it's beginning to solve the province's doctor shortage. Its officials say close to 75,000 residents are now connected to family care teams in the province. Mark Quinn reports.

Preparations began last December to build a temporary bailey bridge to connect the north and south sides of Marystown. About three months later, residents are starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. NTV’s Ross Tilley reports.

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians can expect to cast ballots in three elections this year: at the municipal, provincial and federal levels. CBC Radio’s The Signal invited guests to discuss why politics needs more women and gender-diverse individuals in office.

Residents of Newfoundland and Labrador seeking fertility services will soon be able to receive in-vitro fertilization and egg preservation treatments in the province.